I think climate denial will look pretty funny in hindsight after agriculture has broadly collapsed leading to mass famines, and a bunch of coastal cities are several meters under toxified saltwater.
Like, that thing I just described is the optimistic scenario, where humanity/society survives despite things turning way shittier. It could be much worse.
That’s really not even close to the optimistic scenario. It’s arguably not even in the pessimistic scenario if you’re not just in the “make stuff up club.”
We’re talking at most half a meter of rise by 2050, at most 2 meters by 2100, at most 4 meters by 2150. The intermediate projection is a third of a meter by 2050. The optimistic projection (which we’re not going to hit) is 3/20th of a meter.
Climate change is real. The risk of famine is real. The risk of global conflict is real. The risk of trying storms is real. However, “doomsday everybody dies” is not really on any serious projections. The worst case is “a lot of people in a lot of poor nations die and rich nations have more wars and more immigration.”
Moral values. Some of the things I was taught were good in the 80s are now seen as evil and vice versa. I don’t think it’s the only time that’ll happen.
I thought this place was supposed to be an alternative to Reddit. Don’t act as if there’s no room for a nuanced conversation when it comes to giving children the autonomy to choose to take puberty blockers or opt for surgery.
Yeah it’s an alternative to Reddit because master debating is mocked here instead of “good sir let us meet in the marketplace of ideas”. Go back to Reddit.
What do you think the point of puberty blockers is? How many gender affirming surgeries are taking place on children? Or are you just spreading transphobic lies?
I feel like there’s been a trend of people switching from alcohol to cannabis as its become more widely accepted but I know a lot of people who have ended up taking it to excess as well. I feel like the idea of being addicted to it still really doesn’t come up often and looking back that might be viewed as problematic.
I’m not against people using it or anything but I do feel bad for the people who have gotten to the point where they need to smoke to feel like themselves.
People don’t think pot is addictive because it’s not chemically addictive, like nicotine or alcohol are. Those things actually change your body chemistry, and your system becomes reliant on them.
Pot doesn’t do that, but it can definitely be psychologically addictive . Virtually anything can be psychologically addictive, like video games or watching TV. If you feel the need to take a few bong hits every hour of every day, or if your desire to get high interferes with your responsibilities, then yeah, you’re probably psychologically addicted. Get help.
Getting wasted every once in a while is probably okay, though. People need to make sure they’re not like one of those idiots I knew in college, who insisted they drove better when high. They didn’t, and neither does anyone else.
As an addition to this I firmly believe medical marijuana is a phase.
Now I’ve made people angry here’s the nuance.
CBD/THC combinations certainly have a role in some patients with chronic pain, especially where it’s use can avoid or reduce the use of opioids.
There are clear specific uses such as intractable epilepsy where it is clearly the best treatment. It is effective for glaucoma but there are better treatments available.
I’m highly suspicious of marijuana having any role in mental health and there are, in my opinion, no convincing studies published showing that it is useful at all despite the fact that large studies have been done and presumably file-drawed.
The idea that smoking is an appropriate delivery method for a medication when other methods are available is insane. Very few things are as bad as tobacco smoke but inhaling smoke is bad for you.
My prediction is that in 20 years we will have cannabis derivatives in capsules that fulfil the specific purposes and the idea that any doctor prescribed marijuana to smoke will seem insane to younger doctors.
Yeah… Even as a third party, I definitely have not been enjoying the smell when I’ve bumped into it. I don’t think it should be a criminal offense, but I hope we can move past “I need to light a thing on fire and just screw up the air for everyone in my vicinity.”
Ugh you’re probably right, it’s going to be our generation’s DMC DeLorean. The vehicle itself will age poorly, but slap it in a BTTF reboot in five years and it’ll fit right in
People are finding them cool now. Useless, overpriced pieces of junk used as trophies to a rich mans poor ego… but distinctive enough that it might change future car designs.
Look at what the USPS bought with their new fleet of postal trucks.
Tbh there’s lots of stuff in the Barbie movie that I would consider timeless, especially the feminist aspects of it. What parts of the movie do you think applies to the 2020s but doesn’t apply to, say, 1990 or 1960?
EDIT: I may have interpreted this comment too pessimisticly-- this question is about the future, not the past. Maybe, hopefully, societal views on gender will change in the future enough that the Barbie movie will become outdated
Trucks are undeniably useful, but now have become an instrument of ego, and a status symbol, hence the stupidity of modern pickups. Hopefully they close the loophole of “light trucks” so these things don’t have to be so recklessly dangerous, same with SUVs.